Create 'Old School' Vampire Drawings

***tier-3-top.shtml***

That's right, vampire drawings straight out of the many monster movies of the past! These days, vampires are being depicted to look a lot more modern, but I really wanted to stick with the 'old school' look.

Now, I decided to go with the 'Advanced' label here as there are several phases throughout the lesson where I leave things open - or up to you as to how you want to draw the various parts.

Here, the main focus is process - the sequence in which you go about drawing your vampire. And of course... I'll add some commentary as you move on through to help guide you along.

When drawing your vampire, think about the different ways that he or she could look. See if you can stray a bit by coming up with your own face, clothing style, etc. As always - use your imagination and get creative!

Alright then, let's take a look at how to create some cool vampire drawings!...

***tier-3-middle.shtml***

First Step - A Stick Person Framework for Your Vampire

Whether it be vampire drawings or other drawings, sketching out a simple framework will help you to maintain proportion as you progress. And yes, a vampire is quite humanoid so it makes sense then to use a stick person for your framework!

Arms spread, and cape taken into account - here's a nice simple framework to work with...

The grey lines used to map out the cape area can be helpful when it comes time to place your cape-forming lines on either side of the drawing, left and right. Looking up top - no, the cape doesn't angle up as these lines suggest. But what these lines do accomplish is to create a larger surface area in your framework making it easier to balance the left and right sides.

Got a similar framework sketched out? Good stuff. Onward!...

Second Step - Develop the Head and Neck of Your Vampire

Here's a quick look at how the head area of my vampire comes into view. Use the oval and cross to guide you as you map out the face, the rest of the head, and some other distinct vampire-like features - collar, bow tie, medallion, etc.

Like this...

This is the type of lesson where it makes sense to start up top (the head), and then work your way down to the bottom. Remember, change the face of your vampire so that it looks the way you want it to! Smaller ears and eyes, longer chin, 'bigger' hair... you know what I mean. And same with the extras - see what you can come up with.

Alright, when you're all finished the head and neck area, let's continue with the rest of the torso and the cape...

Third Step - Complete the Torso of Your Vampire

OK, as you can see below - I've fast-forwarded past the completion of the rest of the vampire's jacket and shirt. I'll leave it up to you as to how you want to draw this area. But once you've done this, go ahead and move forward with the four phases as illustrated below - drawing the arms, hands and cape of your vampire...

As mentioned earlier, this lesson is design primarily to give you some direction with the sequence in which to draw each part of your vampire drawings. And this is depicted quite nicely with respect to the upper torso in the four phases above.

Once finished, it's time to move on to the final step!

Final Step - Awaken!

When all is said and drawn, your cartoon vampire is alert and well... ready to suck some blood!

Now all that's left is to give your vampire some color -- I recommend blacks, greys, dark blues, and a touch of red! (see up top).

So what now? Well, you're all done of course. But hey - how about another challenge? Why not see if you can modernize this vampire a bit...

See if you can make it look more like the ones from movies like 30 Days of Night, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Surely - a few subtle changes here and there and you'll be in good shape for coming up with some more up-to-date looking vampire drawings.

Well, good job on the lesson. If you've got some ideas for more monster/Halloween drawing lessons - as always, please let me know! :-)